The Los Alamos National Laboratory was closed at least four days last week by the 18,000-acre Cerro Grande wildfire, which brushed the New Mexico-based nuclear weapons facility. Small fires broke out on laboratory grounds May 11 when the blaze swept past the complex, fueled by winds gusting up to 60 mph. No explosives or nuclear material were affected, although some areas were charred around TA-55, a bunker-like building where most plutonium work is done (AW&ST Jan. 22, 1996, p. 52).
The number of runway incursions at U.S. airports declined only marginally in 1999, and the majority were caused by pilots failing to adhere to air traffic control instructions or established procedures, according to the FAA.
Robert E. Edwards has been appointed chief operating officer in the U.S. for Fairchild Fasteners, Dulles, Va. He was executive vice president and succeeds Lee Dack, who is retiring. Robert Marchetti, presently senior vice president-worldwide sales and marketing, will also assume responsibility for Fairchild Fasteners Direct organizations in Aichach, Germany, Chatsworth, Calif., and Paris. Robert A. Sharpe, 2nd, currently executive vice president, will also be chief strategic officer.
With regional jets rapidly replacing turboprops on feeder routes, Embraer is marketing full-freighter and ``quick change'' conversion kits for its twin PW118-powered EMB-120 Brasilia. More than 350 of the 30-passenger Brasilia were built. With the modification, the full freighter version can carry a maximum 8,157-lb. payload up to 305 naut. mi.
Michael Rudolphi has become manager of the Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project in the Space Shuttle Office at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Hunts- ville, Ala. He has been succeeded by Parker Counts as manager of the Solid Rocket Booster Project. Counts has been succeeded by Jerry Smelser as manager of the External Tank Project. Smelser was deputy manager of the project.
Ward R. Peterson has been named vice president-sales and marketing and Michael Clark vice president-planning of Skyway Freight Systems, Watsonville, Calif. Peterson held a similar position with Airnet Express, while Clark was managing director of transportation services for FDX Supply Chain Services.
The first four 767-based AWACS have entered operational service with the Japanese air force. The aircraft, delivered in 1998 and 1999, underwent a two-year test period to evaluate their communications, navigation and radar systems.
Ed Bastian has been promoted to senior vice president-finance /controller from vice president, Michele Burns to senior vice president-finance/treasurer from vice president-corporate taxes and Hank Halter to vice president-finance operations from director of financial planning, all at Delta Air Lines.
The Swedish Defense Materiel Administration has selected C.A. Clase AB to supply 15 Leica DGPS positioning receivers for Vertol 107 military helicopters.
Raytheon Co. has joined Space Systems/Loral in a cooperative contract to manufacture the meteorological imager for Japan's MTSat-1R, a multi-functional air traffic control and weather satellite.
Turkey and the U.S. have signed an open skies agreement that provides for full liberalization of charter and cargo services between the two countries immediately, and substantial new options for passenger services phased in during the next three years.
U.S. Army Gen. (Ret.) John M. Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Boeing Co. He is a visiting professor at the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University and senior adviser to the Stanford-Harvard Prevention Defense Project at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University. Shalikashvili also is special adviser to the secretary of state and President on ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
International Lease Finance Corp. placed firm orders with Airbus Industrie for 40 A320 family aircraft, seven A330-200s and three A340-600s. The aircraft, valued at more than $3 billion, according to Airbus list prices, are to be delivered between 2001 and 2008. Airbus also converted an option for seven A320 transports for New York-based JetBlue, sold two A320s plus two on option to Midwest Airlines of Egypt, and placed two A319s with Air Mauritius.
ESDU International (www.esdu.com) has released four new tools for aeronautical engineers. For aerodynamics, there is an inviscid design tool for low-drag airfoils using the exact Lighthill method, and a program to estimate the increment in pitching moment due to the deployment of trailing-edge single-slotted flaps. A statistical energy analysis tool analyzes high-frequency vibration in complex structures, and for acoustics there is a database for estimating near-field exhaust noise spectra from jet engines.
Raytheon plans to sell most of its aircraft-financing business to DaimlerChrysler AG's debis Capital Services unit, and thus substantially reduce the corporation's off-balance-sheet debt. The portfolio of loans and leases Raytheon expects to offload are valued at up to $800 million, depending on which receivables are included. They represent about 300 Raytheon jet, turboprop and piston engine aircraft models.
FLS Aerospace is focusing on restructuring and bolstering its European operations with the aim of establishing a profit by the final quarter of the year before seeking to expand its presence internationally.
After several weeks of negotiation, Pratt&Whitney and KLM have signed a memorandum of understanding that could lead to the companies jointly providing full ``nose-to-tail'' aircraft and overhaul component maintenance service to airline customers. Under the agreement, KLM plans to transfer all of its current engineering and maintenance activities to the new business (AW&ST Apr. 3, p. 46). After the transaction closes, Pratt's parent, United Technologies, would take an equity share in the new organization.
The U.S. Air Force's long-awaited white paper on integrating air and space activities is finally available. Accused of neglecting space, the service has been threatened with the creation of a separate Space Force. Significantly, ``Aerospace Force: Defending America in the 21st Century'' indicates a growing USAF commitment to long-range strike capabilities. ``As permanent forward-basing becomes more uncertain, rapidly deployable, U.S.-based forces are assuming greater responsibilities,'' the paper says.
Rockwell Collins Total Entertainment Systems will install inflight entertainment systems in four Airbus A330s and six A340s, with options for an additional seven aircraft, for Scandinavian Airlines System.
The phones won't stop ringing at airlines with the advent of dot.com exchanges all offering a ``better'' way to click-and-sell or buy online. ``We're being inundated,'' says Brian Zipperle, UPS' airline procurement manager, of the various dot.com aviation exchanges. With a fleet of DC-8s, 727-200s, 747-100/200s, 757s and 767s, UPS is constantly juggling the sale of surplus inventory or the purchase of parts. So Zipperle is open to the exchange idea, but he isn't interested in ``vaporware'' sites that are promised but don't exist.
Former U.S. Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Calif.) has been appointed to the board of directors of the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles. Fazio is co-head of the Washington office of Clark and Weinstock.
